Three-dimensional structural arrangements have long been used in greeting cards and the like and have fairly recently become frequently used in advertising and in other promotional endeavors.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,609,639, and 2,152,299 are generally representative of patents which show techniques sometimes referred to as "box-folds" that have been used in greeting cards and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,444 shows the use of this general technique in making advertising leaflets (see FIG. 5) and the use of strips from one panel to open a flap in an opposite panel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,573 shows the use of this technique in stationery items.
Such pieces have now become generally available to the advertising field as a result of the developments shown in several earlier patents, particularly U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,388, issued Dec. 7, 1976, which discloses methods for making pop-up paper products having significant advantages over hand-assembly methods that had been generally theretofore employed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,983, issued Apr. 3, 1979, discloses other methods for making novel promotional items, particularly those which are designed to present a plurality of coupons or the like to a recipient upon the opening of a folder. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,337,589, 4,349,973, 4,833,802, and 4,963,125 disclose still other manufacturing techniques that are specifically suited for mass production of pop-up advertising pieces on a web-press or the like, the disclosures of which patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The foregoing patents describe different manufacturing techniques useful for making advertising and promotional pop-ups as a part of a continuous web arrangement, and pop-ups such as these have been frequently used to create impact and enjoyment in books, in greeting cards and in advertising inserts. These advances in designs and in manufacturing methods have enabled the volume production of such products at significant cost savings and thus have increased their use.
A particularly attractive characteristic of such dimensional items is the construction of a pop-up element which rises upward from a flat, substantially single plane to assume a three-dimensional orientation upon the opening of a pair of cover pieces or base pieces, which may generally form a folder inside of which the pop-up is located. By attaching pop-up elements of these general types to opposite panels of a pair of base pieces, for example along angles created by lines of weakness (e.g. score lines and/or perforations) in combination with adhesive bonds, it is possible to create pressure or stress points on each such bond which, upon opening of one cover, cause the pop-up to be erected. The pressure or stress which is created upon opening is usually sufficient so that, when the cover is manually released, it will draw the cover either partially or entirely closed.
Although substantial design effort has heretofore been expended in creating a variety of different dimensional structures and designs, improved designs continue to be sought, as are methods for mass production of such improved designs.